In Becoming, Buffy chooses to run Angel through with a sword to save the world.  In The Gift, she chooses to jump off the tower to save the word.  Both of these had mystical vortexes which only blood could open and close.  Once she had to kill the love of her life, later she was supposed to kill her sister.

Besides protecting Dawn, did she jump just to find peace?  All of season 5, the Slayer aspect seemed to be warring within her.  And what if Buffy's blood hadn't closed the portal?  Would she have let the whole world go to hell to save Dawn?  (Though, as Giles points out, Dawn--and everyone else--would only be saved for a short amount of time.)

I believe she was kind of looking forward to committing suicide in a Slayer sacrifice. The "death is your gift" really stuck in her head, and she just didn't want to go on anymore. I think, even if miraculously Buffy never had another fight, etc. after facing Glory, if she'd lived, she wouldn't have coped with the responsibilities Joyce had left her. She would have "tried" because it was her "duty", but Dawn wouldn't have gotten a lot of care, and Buffy probably would have retreated into herself further. On that track, if she didn't find something else to live for, prospects would have been grim once Dawn went to college. Buffy's friends would probably be moved on with their lives, too. I can't see her trying to make a new group of friends in the normal people grow up and move on scenario.

Well, Buffy's thoughts about suicide all would have been a split-second decision, since she didn't realize until she was on the tower that she *could* jump instead of Dawn. So, it's not like she could really "look forward" to suicide - but as things got worse and worse for her in season 5, she was probably starting to feel more and more at peace with the Slayer expiration date in general.

I don't know if she would have gone through with it, let the world go to hell to save Dawn. She's had that "I don't care" attitude before - when she was told she was going to die facing the Master - but she changed her mind and did the right thing when it counted.

But on the tower, from the way she's talking and the way she's trying to pull down away, it doesn't seem like she's changed her mind at all. She very well might have let the world go to hell. (On the other hand, I think Dawn would've fought her tooth and nail - she seemed ready and willing to make the sacrifice once she saw what was happening.)

In the training room before the finale battle in "The Gift" Buffy mentions the First Slayer's words to her about death being her gift and tells Giles maybe a Slayer is just a killer after all. He doesn't agree with that. Still, I don't think it occurs to Buffy until her revelation on the tower that death being her gift could mean a gift to her, to end the suffering, so I don't think she was looking forward to dying. 

Buffy's love for Angel was a romanticisized, passionate fairy-tale that turned into a heart-breaking nightmare-- all of it was dramatic and excessive and kept to the fact that they were a Slayer and a vampire with destinies and conflicting fates. Buffy loves Dawn as a sister, like any other pair of sisters, in a human, tangible, family love that is very real even when they annoy each other. When Buffy killed Angel, the girl's heart was breaking but it was about being the Slayer and what was necessary. In Season Five, I think Buffy had found some peace in the balance between being the Slayer and being a girl, and no part of her was willing to kill her sister for any reason. I don't think the parallels go beyond Buffy mentioning Angel and having to sacrifice him like she was being asked to sacrifice Dawn.

On the flip side, with the whole "death is your gift", and considering she told Giles in s7 if given a second choice, she would've let Dawn die, it could have meant that Dawn's death would've been her gift--if Dawn had died instead, she would have quit (or at the very least, taken a very extended leave), the whole First thing wouldn't have happened, cause she wouldn't have been ressurected, she wouldn't have had to worry about Dawn, or social workers, or extra bills generated by Dawn.  Perhaps that morbid, but this post made me consider this.  Dawn's death would have set her free in a whole other way than dying.  No burden of protecting her.  Sure, her mom would still be gone, but her friends would have (hopefully, I'm sure) helped her cope.

The monks said early in S 5 that Dawn was an innocent. Angelus, even Angel, wasn't innocent in any way. Even Ben turned to the dark side :goodevil: to keep himself alive and made it easier for us to be OK with Giles killing him. Nothing would have made killing Dawn OK and it would have killed Buffy's world. I still wonder how much damage she'd be willing to do to her friends if they did try to kill Dawn.:fic:

Scarlet - yes if Dawn had died, Buffy would have been relieved of the problems of being a Mom to her teenaged sister, instead she would have been consumed with guilt and suicide would again present itself.

There is a problem comparing the endings of the two seasons.  Buffy sticks a sword through Angel and he gets sucked into another dimension.  We all know that merely sticking a sword into Angel will not kill him (Spike tried it in order to get his ring back.)  Only a small amount of Angel's blood opens the dimension - why can't Buffy slice Angel's hand and shove the sword back into the statue?  Shouldn't that have closed it?  Why didn't she try that (other than possibly not being able to think clearly at the moment) since she knew that Angel had his soul back?  Instead, she "kills" him as she terms it.

Second, in S5 when Buffy jumps into the open dimension, she dies when her body hits the ground.  Why doesn't she get thrown into some other dimension like Angel?  Certainly Willow's thinking here is not totally off - that Buffy is somewhere else and possibly suffering.  Again, too, why does it take a total Buffy blood content to close the portal.  Wouldn't a pint do?  If Willow magically closed Dawn's wounds, wouldn't that work, too?  The theory is that the portal is open as long as Dawn's blood is flowing.  I really don't see why Buffy's sacrifice worked at all as long as Dawn was standing there dripping.

Finally, and completely unrelated, in S6 doesn't Buffy attempt to commit suicide in Normal Again by rejecting (and attempting to kill) her friends in her Sunnydale life?  And, what a rejection - she's willing to go to (or back to) a mental hospital because her life in Sunnyd has become so bad.  Also, I note that she's sitting in her bed holding the cup of antidote when Spike comes in and threatens to tell her friends about their relationship. Buffy immediately dumps the cup into the wastebasket.  We could say here that Spike actually pushes her over the edge. 

Interesting topic, Golden and sorry for hijacking the thread.

Well, the only argument I can offer is that a pint of blood wouldn't close the portal in S5; if I remember right, the prophecy or whatever says that the portal closes when the blood stops flowing, not throw some blood into it and it'll close.  That's why Buffy and Giles realize that if they kill Dawn, the portal will close.

I don't really see a lot of similarities b/n the end of S2 & S5; I mean yes, there was the portal thingie in both, but Buffy loves Dawn more than anything, even more than Angel.  Then you've got the whole evil/innocent thing; Dawn was innocent; Angel wasn't.  Even if you subsribe to the whole Angel/Angelus soul/no soul argument, if Angel was so blame-free for actions committed by "Angelus", then why did he need to work for redemption?? 

If Dawn had died at the end of S5, I don't think things would have been any different for Buffy or the rest of the Scoobies; Buffy would still have been dealing with depression, and taking all her anger and frustration out on Spike, the only difference would be that it would be guilt fueling her depression, instead of missing heaven.

In Season Five, I think Buffy had found some peace in the balance between being the Slayer and being a girl, and no part of her was willing to kill her sister for any reason.

Actually, I think it was the opposite. When Buffy killed Angel, her Slayer side was warring with her girl side, and the Slayer side won because it was the right thing to do. But back then, both sides were almost equal - she generally chose to be the "Slayer" when faced with the choice between right and wrong, but the girl was just as strong. She still had strong ties to a normal life (her mother, high school, her desire to date).

I don't think she ever really found a balance - I think the Slayer side grew stronger and stronger and smothered Buffy the girl. She's lost her mother, she's dropped out of school, she's failed at relationships. Slaying has become her life. She's afraid she's getting too hard in "Intervention." I think Buffy saw killing Dawn in a sense as killing all that remained of Buffy the girl. Her love for Dawn is really all that's left of her humanity at this point. If she had sacrificed her sister - if she was hardened enough to kill an innocent girl, who was closer to Buffy than anyone - I don't think she'd be able to look at herself in the mirror anymore, even if it was to save the world.

Dawn's death would have set her free in a whole other way than dying.

Only a small amount of Angel's blood opens the dimension - why can't Buffy slice Angel's hand and shove the sword back into the statue?  Shouldn't that have closed it?

I'm not sure, but I think, since Angel's the one who opened the portal, he would've been sucked in no matter what Buffy did. I don't really know why she felt compelled to stab him. Honestly, if he was going to be stuck in a hell dimension for all eternity, it'd probably be kinder to dust him, but as you said, the sword wouldn't do that.

Why doesn't she get thrown into some other dimension like Angel?

Because it's not a "sucking" type of portal? When Angel awakened Acathla, the portal was supposed to suck the world into hell. Instead, it just sucked Angel in. But the portal in "The Gift" wasn't sucking anything in, it was just a collapse in the walls between dimensions. Things were coming out, but nothing was going in. I don't really know how it worked, but I guess the portal kills her (closing the rift) but it doesn't transport her anywhere because it's not that kind of portal.

But in hindsight, well,  in LMPTM, she tells Giles if given a second chance, she would have let Dawn die to save the world instead of sacrificing herself.  Her true reaction should that have happened?  If Dawn had jumped from that tower?  I think she would have just quit slaying, and not done the whole Catatonia thing Part 2. 

But someone did bring up an interesting point--"The portal stops when the blood flows no more."  The blood was always flowing--beneath the surface.  Perhaps it meant flowing from the skin.  If Dawn's wounds were closed, maybe the portal would have stopped.  Huh--never really thought of it that way :P

 Only a small amount of Angel's blood opens the dimension - why can't Buffy slice Angel's hand and shove the sword back into the statue?  Shouldn't that have closed it?

That's interesting as well.  I don't remember anything specifically about Angel having to die to close the portal.   Whistler says that one blow will send them both back to hell, but is that him telling her to kill Angel, or him telling her that she HAS to kill Angel for it to work?  There's not really a reaon for the portal to need his death, and it wasn't brought up anywhere else.  Hmm, in Becoming 2, Whistler says:

Before he says that, he says, "The sword isn't enough. You gotta know how to use it." So when he says one blow will send them both back to hell, it sounds like that's how she's supposed to use it. 

Since Whistler's the one who set Angel on the path of redemption in the first place, I can't imagine him telling her to kill Angel if it wasn't absolutely necessary. If the Powers were that interested in him back then, wouldn't they want him alive and souled if possible?

When you think about it, it actually worked out better for Angel and for the Powers this way. If Buffy had dusted him, it would've been a lot harder for him to come back and fulfill his destiny (I'd say impossible, but then there's Darla...). At least if he was in one piece in a hell dimension, they could just bring him back.

 the portal closes when the blood stops flowing,  Right - which is very ambigous. 

Buffy's going into a coma could be considered a sort of foreshadowing of her suicide/death, too.